Continuing a theme... Television.

I don't watch a lot of television these days. I got bored with the medium a few years ago and discovered, no re-discovered, the joys of radio. This is something that puts me at odds with Wifey and Number1 Son, because they watch it all... Endless reruns of Friends, Scrubs, Ugly Betty, CSI, NCIS, and so on. I can watch one or two, but then I'm bored beyond belief.
I see the way that its going to go from the outset... and I'm rarely surprised by a plot twist or development, and so I can, at best, watch a programme, once. They can sit and watch the same episodes over and over.
And don't get me started on X-Factor, BGT, Strictly...

So - My favourite?
I watch QI, Mock the Week, Dr Who, I really enjoyed Sherlock on the BBC recently, Match of the Day, and less often now 'Have I Got News For You?' as I think its lost the edge that made it great years ago.
But there is a series that I worshiped when I was younger, and I can always watch it when it appears on a cable channel.
Blake's 7.
I LOVED it! The honest rebels, the evil Federation, the idea that this small group were making a difference and in the end were going to win against overwhelming odd.
When Gareth Thomas left the series, and we were left without Blake I was still addicted, it didn't break step. In later series they kept looking for Blake, who was always rumoured to be out there somewhere I was broken-hearted when Gan was killed in an episode. The ships weren't saucers, they were exotic looking.
I was obsessed with it for years. Never missing an episode in the entire run, except one in which a major character was killed off. Took me a while to forgive my dad for making me go to the works Pantomime trip - in a time before VCRs were common!
And then there was the news that it was going to end.
The final episode arrived. Surely they were going to finally kill the bad guy, well - girl actually! Overthrow the Federation, Blake would be found and lead them to the final victory.
But that's not what happened.
They found Blake, he was changed, and with a few minutes to go he confronted Avon, his right hand man and the leader since Blake had been absent. During the interchange it became clear that the Federation were there, and it was some sort of a trap. Avon shoots at Blake, just as he says something like 'its OK, I'll get us out of here but you have to trust...'
Blake dies. The troopers break in and start shooting, killing character after character, until only Avon and his nemesis Servelan are left.
She offers him a seat as her consort, he smiles, he starts to laugh, it fades to black, the sound of his gun followed by a volley of troopers blaster shots, and the credits rolled in silence.

I sat looking at the telly, on the verge of tears, 13 years old and my heroes were dead. They'd been crushed in the end, it was all for nothing. For days, weeks, I could barely talk about it. At school the few of us who were fans seemed to avoid talking about it, as we were all left stunned.

So, even now, when I watch it, I feel like that young lad.
And one more sad moment. Many years ago I went for an interview in Chiswick. It was a job I was desperate to get and was wearing a suit that has 'seen better days' as they say in the novels. I'd had a bit of an effort travelling to get there as it was a long haul from the area of South London I was living in at the time. So there I am, hot and uncomfortable in my suit, nervous, and worried I'm going the wrong way or something else is going to go wrong and ruin my day. This guy sits down opposite me and pulls a computer catalogue out of a bag. I immediately think - he must be loaded, buying a PC! (at that time about £1500 would get a computer and my salary was likely to be around £8500 in London!) Then he takes out a mobile phone - in those days still an uncommon sight. I immediately think - Rich AND a tosser...
"Hi, Its Stephen Greif..." He starts.
My jaw is on the floor... Its Travis! The evil henchman from Blake's 7 and he's sat opposite me! My opinion of him has been reversed instantly.
And now the train pulls in to my stop.
Dammit.
I have to get off, without saying a word.

Oh, in my defence - he had been heavily made up in the series, scars, badly disfigured because of his many battles etc, and it was about 10 years since I'd seen the programme, no instant DVD release back then!